The first few days spent trying to bond with Kagome was almost unbearable for the three inu's. Not because they didn't like being in Kagome's company. No, that wasn't the reason at all and would likely never be the reason for their discomfort.
The reason that it was almost unbearable for them had much more with the scent of sorrow and pain that clung to the small girl like a second skin. Obscuring her otherwise pleasant scent in a very unlikable way. However they all knew that the girl needed time to come to grips with things.
No one really expected her to just roll out of bed a day or two after finding out that they had adopted her into their family, and be perfectly fine with everything that had occurred to her. That would just be...weird. And frankly completely unrealistic.
If she had done so, they would have questioned her sanity and immediately sought out professional help.
However they did try to help her in any way that she would let them. They started everyday like the first, Sesshomaru would awaken her, she would then go bathe and dress herself and then come out of the bathroom to join them in the middle of her bedroom, over net to the window where they had set up a small table, and some plush cushions to sit on. And the table was always laid out like something out of an expensive restaurant.
The food was almost always traditional Japanese in some way. And usually consisted of tamago eggs, omelets and rice, miso soup with tofu chunks floating in it, grilled fish, small bowls of rice and salad with ginger dressing, big porcelain cups of either green tea, jasmine, vanilla and honey, or chai spice- depending on the day and what everyone was in the mood for- and off to the side was a small-ish long glass dish with several different dipping sauces.
And like everyday since the first, after breakfast the inu tried to engage Kagome in either conversation or tried to get her to become interested in doing something for the day.
However she always turned them down. Politely, mind you, as there was no hatred or malice in her intentions. But the rejection still hurt.
It wasn't until the third day that Sesshomaru came up with an idea that might help things along and shortly after waking her on the third day, he had simply asked. "You're still in pain aren't you?" He didn't mean the mental pain of the suffering that had been inflicted on her.
He was speaking of her body. Something that he worried that he and his family had accidentally overlooked when they shouldn't have.
Kagome merely nodded her head and then began to move to get up when he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder and simply said, "Please remove your shirt and I will take care of the bruises on your torso, arms, legs and face. But you'll have to take care of the other areas yourself since I doubt you would appreciate my touching you in an unseemly way. I know that you are already uncomfortable enough as it is."
Kagome thought for a moment to protest when Sesshomaru held up a glass jar with a tin lid on it and said, "This is a special healing salve that can be absorbed into the skin. The herbs and other things are effective enough that your bruises and the pain that you have been feeling will be gone within the hour. We have even had you ingest some of the special healing herbs by lacing your morning drinks with it."
She glared at him, obviously not liking the fact that they may have been drugging her. And in truth, Sesshomaru understood that. However she was a mortal girl in the household of three demons. Though it had been slightly underhanded of them to lace her morning drinks with the herbs, they did have a good reason for doing so.
It was to keep her healthy.
After they had realized in part the deplorable state that her body had been in, they had been trying to rectify the mistake by any means necessary.
"I know that you do not like knowing that we have been lacing your drinks, little one, but it cannot be helped. Your current health is a concern to us. We merely didn't lace your drinks with too much. We wanted to let you get used to us and give you the herbs gradually over a specific course of time as a means to jump start the new healing ability that you will gain from it."
Kagome continued to glare at him for another moment or so as she mulled over his words. When put like that, she could kind of understand where he and the other two were coming from. Without an unnatural healing ability, she was in essence, vulnerable.
Very vulnerable.
Jump starting her body's ability to heal mortal wounds would be imperative since she doubted very much that the three inu's would like for her to just keel over dead from illness, disease, infection or injury.
Sighing Kagome grasped the hem of her nightgown and drew it up over her head and then clutched it to her chest and glared at him again as she said, "You take care of my back and anywhere else I can't reach and I'll do the rest."
"That is acceptable." Sesshomaru said as he patted the bed in front of him and waited for her to settle herself in place as he opened the jars and set the lid aside before then shifting his attention to her.
Her hair was in the way so he carefully gathered it in his hands and moved it over one of her shoulders and then dipped his fingers into the salve and rubbed enough of it onto the palms of his hands, and then carefully placed his hands over one of the more painful looking bruises marring the onna's naturally pale skin. And began to rub it into her skin while she reached over and went ahead and took care of the front of her torso and what she could reach of her arms and legs.
All while impressively managing to retain her modesty as much as possible as he finished up with her back and then moved to get what she missed of the rest of her injuries. Including the one on her face.
Once done, Sesshomaru leaned back, straightening his spine as he looked over their handiwork and let his lips curve slightly when he saw that the painful wounds were already fading.
"That should take care of those injuries. Do you have any others? I've noted that you've been moving strangely when you walk."
Kagome was mortified. She didn't exactly show it, but the second those words left his mouth, he could scent it. The fact that she was mortified indicated greater damage had been done to her body than even they had realized. I mean, she must have been torn in multiple places and treated more than a little roughly to still be in pain so many days later.
And instead of simply saying something, the damn girl had remained silent and had been suffering from internal damages. Which could be part of the reason that she continued to show any lack of interest in anything when they attempted to bond with her.
It was enough to set his teeth on edge, really.
Handing her the jar of salve, he then told her what to do to make the pain on the inside of her body heal much faster and then turned his back so that she could scamper off without worrying about her partial nakedness.
Thirty minutes, and several pained whimpers that tormented him, later- Kagome emerged from the bathroom after treating her injuries and bathing and now stood just in the bathroom doorway wearing a little long sleeved, black shirt with teal butterflies around the hem, neckline and running along the length of the sleeves, and a pair of denim overalls with only one strap fastened to the bib.
It was an interesting choice in clothing really, but she looked so cute in it that he couldn't bring himself to say anything unkind about it since such things were generally not to his taste.
"That's a nice outfit." He said as he looked her over from head to toe.
Kagome flushed a fetching shade of pink and looked away from him as she walked over to the small vanity and picked up her brush so that she could brush her hair. Glancing up at the mirror as she started to lift her hand, she froze for several heartbeats as she looked at herself.
Even though it wasn't her fault that her father had done such terrible things to her- she had begun to hate her own reflection. Even now, she couldn't seem to figure out what was so damn unlovable about her that her own father had to-
"Kagome?" Sesshomaru's voice cut through her thoughts like a knife. The warm tone he used commanded her attention without making it seem as if he were being rude. In some small way she supposed that it was his odd way of comforting her?
Dropping the brush back onto the vanity (well, more like dropping it really) Kagome looked over at Sesshomaru and tried to think of something to say.
She hated her reflection.
And by extension she hated herself.
So what could she do to keep from hating herself even more than she already did? Aside from breaking all of the mirrors in the house, that is?
Sesshomaru stood up and walked around the bed to stand just within reaching distance of the onna. He could smell her confusion and anxiety and wondered what it was that caused her to feel such things, he was about to ask her what was wrong when she finally spoke.
Her voice small and almost sounding as if she were ashamed of what she was admitting to him.
She hated being her. She wished she wasn't her. It was both confusing to hear and at the same time not. She hated herself. She couldn't stand being her.
In truth he understood very well what she was in some way hoping that he would understand. So when he reached out and took her hand and quietly led her downstairs to see their father, he told him that Kagome needed to go into town and do some stuff.
When his father asked what it was she wished to do, Sesshomaru had merely looked down at her and then said. "Change."